Posted
by
Unknown Lamer
on Tuesday July 02, 2013 @02:07AM
from the galaxy-might-have-a-problem dept.

astroengine writes "The intense cold of interstellar space shouldn't be conducive to chemical reactions between methanol and hydroxyl radicals — two molecules that are known to exist in stellar nurseries and cold interstellar clouds — and yet the product of this reaction, methoxy radicals, are found in abundance throughout the universe. What is creating them? In a paper published in the journal Nature Chemistry (abstract), Dwayne Heard and colleagues from the University of Leeds think that interstellar alcohol is undergoing a destruction mechanism facilitated by a weird quantum effect known as tunneling. On encountering hydroxyl radicals, methanol molecules should be repelled by the electrostatic force. But at very low temperatures, when both chemicals are mixed in a cold gaseous state, quantum tunneling becomes extremely efficient at allowing chemical reactions to occur. The researchers write: 'at temperatures relevant to the interstellar medium, almost every collision between methanol and OH (hydroxyl) would result in a successful reaction to form CH3O (methoxy).' What's more, they find that the reaction rate is 50 times higher in the cold interstellar environment than it is at room temperature. 'If our results continue to show a similar increase in the reaction rate at very cold temperatures, then scientists have been severely underestimating the rates of formation and destruction of complex molecules, such as alcohols, in space,' said Heard."

This finding could led to the development of a new phase in chemistry - very low temperature chemistry

We are led to believe that chemicals get to mix better when temperatures are applied, but from what I read from TFA, that quantum tunneling process, if we can harness it, could save us a lot of energy in the many laboratories / factories all around the world

It isn't just the potential energy savings. It may offer ways to build compounds that aren't feasible to create today since part or all of it may decompose at higher temperatures. I think that is quite interesting. Of course the energy savings could be important in some specialized applications such as synthesis of compounds on space missions, undersea, a few other things I can think of, etc. Depending on the range of reaction temperatures, there may be some very curious possible interactions between ch

This finding could led to the development of a new phase in chemistry - very low temperature chemistry

We are led to believe that chemicals get to mix better when temperatures are applied, but from what I read from TFA, that quantum tunneling process, if we can harness it, could save us a lot of energy in the many laboratories / factories all around the world

I suspect that the degree to which heat-pumping to achieve very, very, low temperatures is a pain in the ass(and quite energy intensive) compared to conventional resistive or combustion heating will limit the economy of using it as a replacement for existing high-temperature processes; but there are probably a lot of interesting products that won't form in useful amounts at modest temperature; but won't survive high temperatures. Those could be very promising candidates...

I suspect that the degree to which heat-pumping to achieve very, very, low temperatures is a pain in the ass(and quite energy intensive) compared to conventional resistive or combustion heating will limit the economy of using it as a replacement for existing high-temperature processes;

Right up until we start doing it in orbit. Put a mirror in front of a thing and paint it black...

To be exact, 'precusor' molecules were found so far. They have like half of complexity of what we are talking about, which makes it quite probable that amino acids are out there.

But there is a far way from single particle of adenine to DNA chain. (a lot, lot further than from single atoms flying in space to group of 7or so atoms in adenine). And then there is a mystery of DNA/RNA replicating with help of cellular structures which themselves are encoded in DNA...

It is a bit like throwing a CD with cd-ripper program on top of pile of pure silicon wafers, hoping that somehow they will turn into PC with CD drive, read the program and start copying the CD around.

The next question, could this be used as a fuel for long term space travel? Or even just harvested?

Fortunately for anybody planning on travelling at nontrivial fractions of c, less fortunately for anybody planning on gathering fuel, there just isn't much 'there' there [wikipedia.org]. Some denser regions; but plenty of space with less than an atom per cubic centimeter.

If memory serves, the trick to avoiding ill effects with methanol is to not process it. Methanol itself isn't that nasty, with initial effects approximately equivalent to the same amount of ethanol(so you can drink yourself to death; but it takes some work); but you metabolize it into delicious formic acid, which proceeds to do you no good at all. If you can avoid metabolizing it, you'll excrete it reasonably quickly without substantial further harm.

Fomepizole is the fancy, expensive, science-tastic alcohol dehydrogenase competitive inhibitor; Ethanol is the more common and well loved one.

I don't know if Fomepizole is superior on some respects to ethanol(lower toxicity, say, allowing you to saturate the patient more heavily); but that's my impression of why it isn't more popular. Now, as any number of contaminated-rotgut-itis demonstrate, just mixing some ethanol with your methanol isn't necessarily good enough to save you; but it apparently can be done correctly.

> I think the problem with the rotgut is that the ethanol clears your system before the methanol is gone.

I don't think there is that much methanol in rotgut.

I did some looking into distilling a while back. Fermented liquid contains a number of chemicals, including entirely other alcohols, mostly in small enough quantities to not be worth talking about. However, when distilling, these tend to be concentrated. The main difference between "rot gut" and the good stuff is in how well controlled that process i

About 20 years ago my high school chemistry teacher claimed that if you showed up at the emergency room and said you had been drinking methanol, they would actually give you a shot of ethanol ("normal" alcohol) as a treatment. Apparantly the body breaks down ethanol before methanol allowing the methanol to pass through without causing damage.